Spirit Matters June 2018 by International Sufi Movement in Australia

Contents Message from the National Representative

Editorial

The Divine Presence by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Shankaracharya: Crest Jewel of Wisdom by Murshid Nawab Pasnak

Where is God? by Karim Parkhurst

Divine Presence & The Six Senses by Zubin

Poems by Faieza & Kafia

The Inner Journey - The Night Journey & The Miraj of the Prophet by Nuria

Melbourne Winter Retreat poster

International Summer School & The Sufi in the World Retreat posters

Review by Carole Voss of The Witch as Teacher in Fairy Tales

Contacts

Photo credits: Royalty-free photos from www.pixabay.com. Thanks to pixabay users djedj & Pete Linforth The Lady & The Unicorn By Unknown in the Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2723771 Other images: Devdutt Pattanaik https://devdutt.com for the image of Adi Shankaracharya http://www.amaana.org Ascension and Night Journey of Prophet Muhammad Painting by Victor Majzner http://victormajzner.com.au Muhammad ascends to heaven (mi'raj) in a Persian miniature. Public Domain image. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buraq#/media/File:Miraj_by_Sultan_Muhammad.jpg

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Beloved Sisters and Brothers Winter 2018 Winter is coming, as they say, but I have been pondering on what this means for us. There have been great changes in my life since the end of January, when my back gave up, so in a way, I have completely missed Autumn. It has been a letting go of attitudes and assumptions, many dearly held. A sloughing off of the things of this world in many ways. I realise that the ego has to let go, even what I would call my positive attributes. It is still ego, and who says they are really positive? In the inner realm I have been rewarded, but the cost has been high. My ego asks, why do we have to suffer so much to learn these things, but the answer comes quickly - the ego does not let go without a struggle. Jungians say that our gods are now our diseases. So, what does our dis-ease, or pain represent? Why has my structure (the bones of my back) ceased to be able to hold me up? What burden is so great, that I cannot let it go. This is leading to some wonderful insights. So when the sages tell us to welcome the pain, I think this is what is meant. Do not let the opportunity pass you by. During this time I have also been slowly working on my blog and thinking about the inner journey to the place of union with the Divine. I have included one which really reflects this: The Night Journey and Miraj of the Prophet. I hope you enjoy it. I have been preparing for our last Winter Retreat at Amberley. The topic is Do Not Hide Your Light. We will explore how we learn to hide our light as children and how we can learn to shine it out in a beautiful, loving, and harmonious way. So wishing you all a happy and de-lightful winter solstice. Nuria National Representative Sufi Movement in Australia

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Editorial Following on from the theme of Divine Love which was our focus in our issue for December 2017, in this newsletter we are exploring the concept of Divine Presence. Hazrat Inayat Khan gave us the prayer Khatum and presents the idea of the Divine Presence which resides in us and the whole universe. I find it interesting that in this prayer we are reminded daily that the Divine Light comes from within us, and that we are surrounded by Divine Light, and absorbed by Divine Light: Open our hearts that we may hear Thy Voice, which constantly cometh from within; Disclose to us Thy Divine Light, which is hidden in our souls, that we may know and understand life better This also ties in nicely with the theme for the Winter Retreat in June in Melbourne which will focus on the theme of “Do Not Hide Your Light”. Karim has written a poignant article dealing with the issue of the presence of God in desperate times, in war and conflict, when all hope seems lost, and when evil is dominant, and compassion and kindness are no longer evident. During these times it is hard for people to maintain their faith in a loving God, and Karim’s article speaks of the very essence of faith, and belief in the existence of the Divine. We are very grateful to artist Victor Majzner victormajzner.com.au who has very graciously allowed us to reproduce his powerful and evocative painting which accompanies Karim’s article. His painting is found in the beautiful book produced by Victor Majzner and Deborah Mazel entitled “A journey through the Song of Songs”. The associated verse is by the late Deborah Mazel. We are also very grateful to Murshid Nawab Pasnak for continuing to inspire us with his blog The Inner Call innercall.towardthe1.com The quotes on page 11 from the philosophical works of Shankaracharya are reproduced with the kind permission of Murshid Nawab. Faieza has kindly contributed a poem expressing her gratitude to Allah, and Kafia has written a beautiful poem exploring the idea that God is the fabric of all existence. Zubin shares some beautiful insights in her article entitled Divine Presence and the Six Senses. In volume twelve of “The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan”, Murshid says that our relationship with God can be understood in five distinct ways: Idealizing God, recognizing God, communicating with God, realizing God, and attaining Perfection This is explored more on page 5. Yaqin Page 4 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

The Divine Presence Hazrat Inayat Khan From Volume XII, The Vision of God and Man Our relation to God can be understood in five different ways: in idealizing God, in recognizing God, in communicating with God, in realizing God, and in attaining Perfection. Idealizing God. Every sincere and earnest believer in God experiences this stage. It is the stage in which he stands before God in humility and gentleness, or with repentance for his sins and faults, or looking up to heaven and asking for pardon. Whether the Being or Person he idealizes is much greater or only comparatively greater than himself, he understands that he is a mere drop in comparison with the ocean, that he is a most limited being as against an unlimited God, that he is most feeble while the other is almighty. He realizes that there is a Being filled with all the virtues and goodness and justice and mercy and compassion imaginable. Everyone, whatever his religion, experiences this first stage during which he is a faithful believer in God. This is the ideal taught from childhood even in ancient times. Today some teach it, and some do not. Education has taken a different turn, with the result that the idealization of God has been disappearing from the stage of life. However, in the East this ideal is still taught to little children by instilling in them a respect for the father and mother, and they are also taught to consider their elder brother or sister as well as the friends of their parents. In this way the child is brought up with a feeling of respect; he is given a kind of ideal to look up to and to understand. He will be shown that he must not contradict his father, because he is not yet old enough to understand the full meaning of his father's words. For instance he would not understand that it may be better to say an untruth rather than a truth in a case where the former would make for harmony and the latter for disharmony. Many things seem to be untrue for the moment, yet as we grow up to understand things better we find that from another point of view they may be true. Therefore a child should show consideration for his elders. The Prophet rebuked his grandson for not calling a servant "uncle"; the servant, being older, must know more than he. Gentleness, sense of respect, and veneration make man different from the animals. If men did not behave like animals the past war would not have been possible. Dogs bark at each other. Not only one but all of the prophets have brought the message that man should show himself higher than the animals in this respect, and that they should give way to one another instead of barking at each other. The first lesson imparted to humanity has been that of idealizing. It is not only the Bible that calls the humble, the gentle, and the meek blessed; the Qur'an and other Page 5 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

sacred books say so too. It was even taught in ancient Rome. Each nation which has arrived at a certain point of understanding and acts according to true humanity has come to realize that man is different from the animals only to the extent of his idealizing. This is greater than art, greater than religion, greater than anything; and it is the source of great joy. Before we can enjoy life we must become delicate, sensitive, and evolved. When this is attained a person experiences a kind of joy in bowing his head such as is not experienced by ordinary people. If we study the lives of the prophets, saints, and sages we notice that however exalted a position they might occupy, their manner was most humble. The customs, the forms and ceremonies and dogmas taught in temples and mosques and other places of worship and prayer were all for the express purpose of increasing the knowledge of this first lesson in approaching God. All the various modes of expressing veneration and respect and worship were given to one Being, in recognition of the fact that there is only one Being worthy of such expression. By practicing this continually we succeed in reproducing the same attitude in ourselves. But if this were the end of our way of life, then what should we think of those who took the other four steps? For, truly, this Shariat, as the Sufis call it, is only the first step. Recognizing God. This is the second step; it is called Tariqat. At this stage the believer in God thinks of Him not only as in heaven where all praise, worship, honor, and respect are due to Him, but he recognizes that God is on earth also. If you take a man called John, and you ask him the name of each part of him, he can give a certain name for each, for every part of his body has a name. But which is John? Which part of his being is John? How shall I recognize John? If I'll recognize him from his head, why not call his head John instead of "head'? If I recognize him from his hand, then why do we not call his hand John; why call it "hand'? If I recognize him from his body, why not call his body John instead of "body'? But if the body is John, and the body dies, then where is John? There where the dead body is, is John there? No, surely John is different from his body, yet at the same time he represents himself with his body. It is his inner self that is really John, yet it is not his inner self that he shows to our external eyes, which are limited; it is his limited self, which we call John, that he shows us. John is behind his limited self. Our eyes are only the vehicle for seeing, but we can see something beyond our eyes; and the ones who see thus are the seers. If we study this more carefully we come to realize that God is the Creator, and that therefore He must have something to create from. When a sculptor sets to work he has something in his mind before he starts, and he has to have a piece of wood or stone to work on. Every worker has a certain thing besides himself to create from. So we may ask: was there anything besides this world for God to make it from? Where did God get the things to make the universe from? If He created it out of something already made then this substance out of which He made the universe must have been made by some other god, or perhaps by thousands of gods, and even then we may not have come to the end! Page 6 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

But this cannot be. The whole of creation derives from one Being whose wisdom is unlimited; one Being whose art is unlimited, whose power is unlimited. He creates of Himself with His own power; therefore the creation and the Creator are not two, just as man and his body are not two. Or rather, they are two but at the same time they are not. When we recognize a man we do not recognize him only from his body but from his spirit as well. If we recognize God we can recognize Him not only in heaven but also on earth. Those who recognize Him see Him in all. A Hindustani song expresses it thus: Ah! how desirous I was to see the divine Beloved! It is not the fault of the Beloved that you do not see; He is before you! It is the fault of you who recognize Him not. Everything, whatever you see, is nothing else but The Presence of God! But if, you might say, all the world is the presence of God, then what is in heaven? I do not say that the body is John; I say that behind the body is John, even though the body too is John. Thus God is in heaven, but His manifestation is also God. Think of how the followers of all the different religions have fought one another! Some were convinced that there are a thousand or numberless gods, whereas others were convinced that there is but one. To the mind of the Sufi both are right, although both are each other's opposite in knowledge. One religion wishes to teach that all these infinite varieties are just one God, and to impress the idea that this is God. Those who have learned that there is one God cannot conceive the idea of many gods, so they have fought throughout all their lives, without ever recognizing who really is their God. They teach that some day they will actually be taken before Him for judgment, when in fact they are before Him all the time, all day long, all night long! Once one understands this a great change of outlook will develop; one's thoughts about God will change so much that one's entire moral standpoint will change. The following story will illustrate the manner of this change. A great king of Persia, named Jamsheyd, had a certain wrestler named Rustam. He was the greatest of all wrestlers in the kingdom, and he became so proud of his strength and power and bravery that the king thought he would humble him in some way. But he could not find anyone who could be trained so as to be capable of matching Rustam: he was the only one of his kind in the whole land. Then it happened that Rustam went to Arabia, and during his absence a son was born to him, who was given the name of Kushtam. The child's mother died soon after, and this was the opportunity the king sought. He took the child into his palace, and no one knew he was Rustam's son. In the course of time the youth became a great fighter, so strong and powerful that no one in the land could match him. And then, after many years, Rustam returned. Jamsheyd did not tell the youth that Rustam was his father; he only said that a powerful wrestler had come from Arabia, and that he must fight him. Page 7 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

Now it was the custom for every wrestler to wear a dagger with which to kill a vanquished opponent if he refused to surrender. Everybody went to see the wrestling match in the arena. The king felt sure that Kushtam, the son, would conquer his father, and indeed, with great energy and strength, the young man brought Rustam down. But Rustam, being so proud of his great power throughout his life, did not wish to surrender, so he must be killed. Kushtam unsheathed his dagger, whereupon Rustam said, "It does not matter, some day when my son grows up he will vanquish you." The youth asked, "Who is your son?" Rustam then said, "But who are you?" and then the secret came out that this youth was his own son. There was no end to Kushtam's sorrow. He made obeisance at his father's feet, saying, "Father, I would rather be the one to be killed than be your conqueror." His father replied, "Do not let it grieve you, for now I am happy to know that at least I have not been vanquished by anyone but my own son, who is my own self." This was the cause of great tragedy to the son, and the same tragedy and the same attitude comes into the life of every man from the time that he begins to discover his heavenly Father on earth. He cannot subscribe to the command "love thine enemy" unless he first recognizes in him his Father in heaven. He may recognize his own father in a friend, but when he recognizes him also in the enemy, then he can love him too. This is the lesson. We flee from God as Cain did till we discover that He is actually here. Just think what a change there would be in the attitude of a man if once he realized his heavenly Father, the only one to whom reverence is due, in his fellowmen! The life of a Sufi in the East is the life of a true disciple of Christ. People may recognize the teachings of Christ in scripture, in a church, or in a chapel, yet to the Sufi none of this is Christ. The only true disciple of Christ is the one who sees God as Father, as Mother, in all his fellowmen. Thus in India, Arabia, and Persia they call a faqir, a sage, a dervish, Bawa or Baba, that is "father", and a lady "mother", seeing both aspects of God in all things. Certainly, there are degrees; these are called Fana-fi-Shaikh, Fana-fi-Rasul, and Fana-fi-Allah; but they recognize their teacher in everyone. This is the first step. One day I was walking in a city and met a dervish with a wonderful personality. He was dressed in a patched robe, but his speech, his voice, his thought, his movements, his atmosphere, were all most winning. At that time I was very young in the pursuit of philosophy. Youth is a time when pride has full play. So as we were walking along, and he called me "Murshid", I was very glad. He addressed me as Murshid every time he spoke to me! Presently we met another person, who seemed to be without any education, without any knowledge of philosophy or religion or anything out of the way, but he called him "Murshid" too. My pride was hurt, especially when next he came across a policeman whom he also called "Murshid." Page 8 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

So then I asked my teacher what could be the meaning of all this, and he said, "Your dervish showed you the first step towards recognizing God: to recognize all beings as your teacher. A foolish person can teach you, a wise person, a learned person, a student, a pious or a wicked person, even a little child; everyone can teach you something. Therefore have this attitude towards everybody, then it may be said that you recognize God." There is a Hindu saying, "When the chela is ready, the guru appears", which means that when you are ready to discern it, you will find your teacher beside you. We can even learn love from doves and faithfulness from dogs. Communicating with God When an ordinary or an illiterate person meets a poet, he sees the man-part and not the poet-part. But if he is told that this person is a poet he may see the poet-part when he meets him. He now sees that he is a poet in his actions and in his words; in everything about him he sees the poet, whereas otherwise he would not have been able to see this. Thus a great poet may go among a crowd and the people will only see the man in him; they do not see the poet, and they do not know how profound his thoughts are. So once a person begins to recognize God in man he does not see the man any more but God. The man is the surface, while God is deep within him. Such recognition brings a person into touch with everyone's innermost being, and then he knows more about people than they know themselves.. He will know their sorrow, their joy, their secrets. Such a person is called a seer. The seer sees God with his own eyes and also recognizes his divine Beloved in every form, in every name. He reaches Him and touches the God-part in every being, however limited this individual appears to be on the surface. From now on a softness develops in his nature, a magnetism, a winning quality, a beauty rarely to be found. Those who have attained to this stage are able to meet people with awakened minds, and when a person meets them he wants to stay with them for ever. A very well-known seer, the great Shams-i-Tabriz, went to see Jelal-ud-Din Rumi when the latter was teaching at the university of Qoniya. He was a dervish, and he approached Rumi appearing like a savage. The first thing he did was to seize Rumi's manuscripts and throw them into a nearby tank. Rumi looked at him, wondering at his action in throwing away all that knowledge, and asked him the reason for it. The seeming vagrant said, "Because you have been reading all your life and you should now do something more. You should understand what you are and where you are. Everything in front of you is spelt out in letters, if only you could read them; then you could read life, which is greater than any scripture, better than any tradition that you can be told. It would disclose the secret of all being." Rumi, studying him and his expression and hearing all he said, was so won by him that he wrote down in his diary, "The God whom I have been worshipping all my life has today appeared before me in the form of a man." Page 9 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

It is said, "By the vision of God, their self will become God." This happens when we come to see God in everybody. We develop goodness in our actions; our words become God's words, because we are impressed with all that reflects only goodness and is mirrored around us. Then we become a museum or a picture of goodness. We reflect it from morning till evening, we reflect forgiveness, we reflect tolerance, we reflect all these lovely qualities. As it is said, "If my Beloved is in every kind of man, how considerate I ought to be towards all!" The lover is always very careful when he is with his beloved; he becomes thoughtful and tender. Realization. It is after feeling the presence of God and after being in communication with Him that we come to realize Him. When we can touch God in everyone then God tells us about Himself, because He sees that we have no hate, no prejudice. We have seen our Beloved, and our Beloved tells us all. Still, realization is difficult, for it involves discerning the difference between me and you. What is this difference? It is a great question, a great problem. Our "I" and "you" are just like a pair of compasses with which we draw circles on paper. The one point of the compass is the "I", the other point is the "you", and where they join there is no "I-you." The "I" and "you" only remain as long as we see ourselves; but when we rise above them or beyond them, the thought brings us nearer and nearer to God in that consciousness in which we all unite. Self-realization is not self-expression; it is not work; it is not an art; it is not realization of a mental or artistic self. It is realizing God; it is union with God. It is not a matter of creating something to live forever as Shakespeare or Beethoven did. It is an attainment. Self-realization is where the word is silent. The object of the Sufi is to enter into the silence, to learn to leave the form and the external world with all its attributes, to cease striving for anything but the goal. God is not in time, therefore He is in the silence. Sound is part of the world of time. The sage cannot say more than this, for the subject is so vast; when we come to this conception we find that it is altogether too subtle, too vast, to express. Perfection. Divine perfection is perfection in all powers and mysteries. All these are manifested without specially striving for them. Perfection and annihilation is that stage where there is no longer 'I" and no longer "you", where there is what there is.

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Shankaracharya: Crest Jewel of Wisdom Posted on The Inner Call innercall.towardthe1.com 9th May 2018 by Murshid Nawab Pasnak

To be born a human being is valuable and rare as only the human being has the discrimination and free will necessary to aspire to a higher purpose. The Supreme Reality cannot be understood by studying scriptures; once the Supreme Reality is understood, the study of scripture is meaningless. One cannot reach God by repeating the word God. No one can free another from bondage, one can only free oneself. Among all the factors of religious life, devotion to God stands supreme. The highest knowledge is knowing the unity of the individual Self (Atman) and the universal Self (Brahman). Atman is uncreated and eternal, it dwells within the body, but does not depend on the existence of a body. To know Brahman is to know the Self, and to know the Self is to know Brahman. Intellectual knowledge and direct knowledge of the Ultimate Reality are as different as the phantoms in a dream and waking reality.

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The True Self is the changeless reality at the center of a shifting dream; therefore, fix your mind on the True Self alone. The True Self remains always the same, despite karma and its effect, age and death; only your perception of it changes. To be born a human being, to have a longing for God, to find a true Master, and to be able to connect in meditation, are all gifts of God’s grace. You are the Self, the infinite Being, the pure, unchanging Consciousness, which pervades everything. Your nature is bliss and your glory is without stain. Because you identify yourself with the ego, you are tied to birth and death. Your bondage has no other cause. The fool thinks, “I am the body”; the intelligent man thinks, “I am an individual soul united with the body.” But the wise man, in the greatness of his knowledge and spiritual discrimination, sees the Self as the only reality and thinks, “I am Brahman.” As the mind becomes gradually established in the Self, it proportionately gives up the desire for external objects. When all such desires have been eliminated, there is the unobstructed realization of the Self. That Reality is One; though, owing to illusion, It appears to be multiple names and forms, attributes and changes, It always remains unchanged. [It is] like gold which, while remaining one, is formed into various ornaments. You are that One, that Brahman. Meditate on this in your mind.

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Where is God? By Karim Parkhurst For a long time I have pondered this question. Uncounted others do the same every day. Given a world where murder and mayhem, greed and falsity sit hand in hand with power and influence, one is forced to confront such a question day after day, even moment to moment. Where to find the courage to continue, in the face of such atrocity, misuse of power, and just naked greed, to believe in anything?

Yet there's a yearning in the light that's leaking through the dawn trickling from its rivers to the oceans of our fears in a universe that's turning on the yearning point of prayer and God is hidden there inside the inside of His ever-changing world.

Painting by Victor Majzner victormajzner.com.au Poem by Deborah Mazel from the book “A Journey through the Song of Songs”

Elie Wiesel, in his deeply distressing memoir of life as a Jewish boy in a Nazi Concentration Camp during the closing months of WWll, posed the same question whilst witnessing the hanging of a young Jewish boy by these same Nazis. He and the other camp inmates were forced en masse to watch the execution, when he heard someone behind him ask, “Where is merciful God, where is He?” and again, after the deed was done, this same voice called out, “For God’s sake, where is God?” Wiesel tells us that he heard a voice from within himself, rise up and say, “Where He is? This is where – hanging here from this gallows…” (“Night”, Elie Wiesel, pp64-65, Penguin Classics, 2006). Page 13 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

What can we do in the face of such horror to maintain our faith? Is it even possible? Reasonable even? As a Sufi I am strongly drawn to the writing of Ibn al ‘Arabi, the 12th century Spanish Muslim/Sufi Sheikh. Even in translation his thoughts are powerful tools even after almost 900 yrs has elapsed since he first put them down. I turned to him today, Easter Monday, 2018, to help me to find an answer during my own struggles with this ‘absence’ in the face of a world seemingly in torment. This is what I read: ‘There is…only one Creation, but it recurs perpetually, from instant to instant. And since Creation means theophany, the relation between the creativity of the heart and perpetually recurrent Creation can again be defined by the idea of the gnostic’s heart is the “eye” by which the Divine Being sees Himself, that is, reveals Himself to Himself. …’ (Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi, Henry Corbin, pp 228-9; Bollingen Series XCI, Princeton University Press, USA, 1998) How then, given that this must have been as true in the days of Ibn ‘Arabi, as in those spoken of by Elie Wiesel, and our own experiences lived in the 21st century we now inhabit, can we hear through these intuitions of Ibn Arabia, a solution to this problem of just, “Where is God?” in all of this madness? Henry Corbin’s words point to the answer through his translation of Ibn Arabi’s own insights, as relevant today as 900 something years ago. Ellie Wiesel spoke of “…a voice within [answering the cry spoken by another soul] …”Where He is? This is where-hanging here from this gallows…” At Easter in the Christian Calender, this cry from the wounded heart of a suffering humanity, takes on a special meaning, with the Crucifixion of Jesus on the Cross of Rome. ‘Epiphany’, in the sense it is used in the works of Ibn ‘Arabi and as translated for us by Henri Corbin in the above quoted work, is a difficult concept, but it means something like, ‘that which is manifested within the heart or form of the one to whom it is given’, and it is this ‘epiphanic form’ which is – like the ‘Names of God’ - not God, but neither is it separate from Him. The God of the mystic, therefore, is none other than this epiphanised form, that he sees in front of him. It is this suffering humanity. This is what I believe that Ibn ‘Arabi’s intuition tells us. It can only ever be through and within such ‘epiphanies’ that the true nature of the essential goodness that lies at the heart of creation, may be seen, witnessed. Likewise, it is the lack of this very same ‘epiphanisation’, the absence of this essential goodness, which leads us to change our ways. That ‘the Form of God’ that we are called to witness according to the Prophet Muhammad (“worship God as if you saw Him”), can be manifested only through the pure, polished hearts (“mirrors”) of those servants of God who have assumed the task Page 14 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

that was assigned to Adam (and thus all his successors) is why, perhaps - for the rest of us - they seem to pass by unnoticed as if they never were. That this “Creation” is always and ever only “now”, and “now”, and “now”, points to both its Origin and the state of the “mirror” thus focussing God’s Will. We are frail creatures indeed! However, it also points out the “Way” as an ongoing ‘enterprise’ for the aspirant on the “Path of Return”. The Sufi idea of ‘polishing the mirror of the heart’ such that it can display more readily that which is mirrored within it, comes from the science of ‘optics’. And it is from this that we take the idea that we must reflect on questions thus placed before us. We have long mistakenly taken this reflecting process to be a matter merely of ‘mentation’, but it was long since thought to involve the heart even more than just the physical organ of the brain. It is as Sufis, indeed, as human beings, that we are today called upon to exercise this (nowadays) somewhat latent faculty to comprehend that the answers to these questions have long since been given if we but listen. What next? Only “this”, and “this”, and “this”; those very acts of living, of an everyday life, but one lived in and through such a vision of the Reality of God as that presented to us by Ibn ‘Arabi and all the others who have gone before us, including our own teacher, Hazrat Inayat Khan. We don’t have to go somewhere to find this out. We don’t need to seek out those who are needing such a response from us. It is always, because of this now, and now, and now, here and now. But for this we must have faith. Not in the goodness of this world, for we know its parlous state. But in the possibility of something different always and forever lurking at the fringes of our consciousnesses, the possibility made manifest in and through these ‘epiphanies, that it is goodness , and not evil, that allows us to believe that this can be made manifest. A faith in the face of such a world as we have made, to continue to believe in the possibility of goodness as such, manifested in everyday living and relating. And this faith not blind, but a seeing faith, born out of these very actions that mirror this divine intention to be “Known” (“God was a hidden jewel who wished to be known, so He made man”) Indeed, we must if we too are to answer the call to “worship God as if [we] saw Him”, and this as much manifesting in our everyday lives lived in the marketplace, as it may be on the prayer mat in the mosque, or in the temples or churches of this world.

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Divine Presence & The Six Senses By Zubin

Hazrat Inayat Khan’s grandfather Moula Bakhsh taught him, “you must guard the heart of a human being, which is as fragile as glass, never hurt them by your speech, actions, deeds and that is the very first lesson of Sufism, because the heart of the human is the abode of God, is the throne of God.” When one is moved by beauty, it is the knowing heart, the Divine Presence that is experiencing itself, recognition of the Divine Presence through the five senses, by the knowing heart. The artistic temperament is sometimes able to communicate these experiences, the poets, visual artists, musicians, and sculptors. Some examples where artists have expressed the Divine Presence include: The six Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. Recently these centuries old French tapestries made the 17,000 kilometre journey from the collection of the Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge in Paris, to the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney. The tapestries are interpreted as an allegory of the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, Page 16 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

taste and touch. The lady, the lion and the unicorn feature in each panel, the lion king of animals, symbol of vigilance and loyalty, and the unicorn symbol of purity and chastity, and the incarnation of Christ. The sixth is the only tapestry bearing an inscription, heart or will – represented by the phrase ‘mon seul désir’ or ‘my sole desire’. Each of the six tapestries is approximately 3.5 metres tall by 3.5 metres wide, and comprises a royal blue oval island floating in a mille fleur (thousand flower) red background. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are remarkable both in their originality and quality, the result of collaboration between the designers and the weavers, with more than thirty different colors and shades using plant dyes in wool and highlighted in silk. Since their arrival at the Musee de Cluny in 1882, they have since been restored several times. As we experienced in Sydney, wherever the tapestries are exhibited, people return again and again to stand before their beauty. This is not the only example where the heart is expressed as the sense that holds all the others, to experience and express the divine presence. Murshid Inayat Khan writes in Alankaras “Thy divine spark in my heart is as the dewdrop in the rose; let me treasure it, Lord, as the shell preserves the pearl”. Another outing with Sufi companions experienced the trio Alchemy, (pianist Kathryn Selby and the Finnish duo, violinist Vesa-Matti Leppanen and cellist Timo-Veikko Valve). The group presented one of Anton Arensky’s final opuses, and an interpretation of Theodore Kircher’s work arranged for piano trio. The first piece was relaxing, intricate, harmonious, and the audience was being tuned, or tuning their inner ear. After the interval the trio returned to play, and the audience was mesmerized throughout. Each member of the trio played from their experience of the divine and transported the audience to the divine presence in doing so. The audience were captured in the Divine Presence; eventually they could move to express their appreciation, which they did with a standing ovation. Through music, further insight into the nature of the senses is possible when we realise that Ludwig Van Beethoven created what are regarded as some of his best compositions after his physical sense of hearing was no longer functioning. He was completely deaf. We can experience that the inner ear, in fact all the inner senses are independent of the physical senses. The Australian Poet Judith Wright includes the sovereign sense of the Divine Presence in her poem Five Senses, in the book of the same name. Now my five senses gather into meaning Page 17 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

all acts, all presences; and as a lily gathers the elements together, in me this dark and shining, that stillness and that moving, these shapes that spring from nothing, become a rhythm that dances, a pure design. While I’m in my five senses they send me spinning all sounds and silences, all shape and color as thread for that weaver, whose web within me growing follows beyond my knowing some pattern sprung from nothing a rhythm that dances and is not mine. Judith Wright honours the Divine Presence as ‘that weaver’ which offers that the Divine Presence is a dynamic evolving presence, and we can encourage our knowing heart to experience this for ourselves. The saying among the Hindus goes ‘There are as many gods as there are strains of music,'…… By this the sages tried to show people that God is in every soul, and that there are as many gods as there are souls. In the Sufi practice, we are reminded in our prayers that God is omnipresent and all pervading, that all of the prophets including Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Buddha, Abraham, Solomon, Zarathustra, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, and those known and unknown lived and brought the message of the Divine Presence. In discussion with our guide we can repeat the name of God or one of the 99 names of God as part of our practice to increase our experience of the Divine Presence. Practicing the presence of God is challenged by the veils of thought and feeling we carry. However, we are reminded when we experience beauty, in visual arts, poetry, music, sculpture, texture, aroma, taste. We are also reminded when we experience loving - kindness, compassion, equanimity and sympathy. The interpretation of fairytales in “The Witch as Teacher in Fairy Tales” by Murshida Nuria Daly gives us great insight into the qualities of the Divine Presence immortalized in fairy tales, the courage, loyalty, determination and love, and the esoteric meaning of the adventures our heroes, heroines and villains as they journey from the outer to the inner. The qualities of the Divine Presence, which we experience through the heart, the akasha that holds all. Murshid Inayat Khan said “Thanks to the winner of my heart, there is nothing of me left any more”.

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God is the Fabric of All that Is

In Gratitude

For the sake of this poem God is called Sun Choose one yourself but the idea must run Is our Sun unfathomably wise light? A Divine presence that cannot excite sight An endless Lover not a He or a She A friend, Oh so close, since eternity All harmony brings Suns presence divine All songs recorded on Suns endless time Nothing Sun does can be reversed For Sun is the fabric of this universe When earth things go wrong, is Sun still around Or has Sun left us to hide underground No this Beloved never ever leaves Suns here to stay as are insects in trees Sun spoke through sweet, gentle hearted teachers To imprint the laws, as guides, not preachers They said ‘ Harmoniously serve with love, and peace’ then Light can swoop like a dove Into your hearts, there to weave is Sun’s goal An Intelligent cosmic fabric of souls So when this unseeable purest light Comes within to Love, you’ll feel such delight Intoxicated even for a while Enjoy that dance, sing that song and smile For once entrained and entranced in Suns game You dissolve and become Sun by name

Oh Allah I thank you for bringing me to this new dawn I mean that in so many ways How the universe pushed and prodded me into this very moment All Fear now subsided replaced by Awe I am witness to your Harmony, Beauty and Perfection When I breathe in all the energy and wisdom pouring in from Fair to Sunrise. I pray for your healing of my mind The cleansing of my heart. Oh Allah please make me of the compassionate Please shower me with wisdom I want to bow my head in shame for not seeing before what I see now For missing all the dawns and sunrises before today. I was asleep then Now I am awake But you are all merciful and all forgiving I pray for continuing awareness Please Allah keep me on this path. All praise to you The Beloved

By Kafia Doris Airey

By Faieza

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The Inner Journey – The Night Journey & Miraj of the Prophet By Nuria

The great journey of Utnapishtim, as told in the Epic of Gilgamesh, has a parallel in the story told about the Prophet Muhammed. This is the story of the Prophet’s night journey, and subsequent Miraj (which is an Arabic word which means ladder), where he rose to ‘heaven’ and experienced the Divine – he was in discourse with God! We are told that the Prophet liked to go to the Kaaba enclosure at night. He would stand absorbed in prayer for many long hours. One evening he suddenly felt tired and in great need of sleep. He therefore lay down near the Kaaba and fell asleep. The angel Gabriel than came to him and shook him twice to awaken him, but Muhammad remained asleep: the third time the angel shook him, Muhammad awoke, and Gabriel took him to the doors of the mosque, where a white animal (looking like a cross between a mule and a donkey, but with wings) was waiting for him. He mounted the animal which was called Buraq and started to journey to ‘the farthest Masjid’, which was thought to have been in Jerusalem. (1)

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This mysterious ‘sleep’ which overcomes the Prophet – a sleep, from which he cannot be woken until the third attempt, sounds like an experience of deep meditation, or Samadhi, where even the angel Gabriel could not waken him. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, during his forest journey, Gilgamesh was also overcome by a strange ‘sleep’, after felling the giant cedar of the forest. His beloved friend and companion Enkidu, too, could not awaken Gilgamesh from this mysterious sleep until the third time of trying. It is only after coming out of this long and deep meditation, that Gilgamesh confronted the ‘monster’ Humbaba. We are not sure, who or what, Humbaba was. He seems to be some form of nature spirit and guardian of the cedar forest. But Humbaba is also referred to as ‘evil’, so this forest journey is an allegory for the inner journey, where Gilgamesh, is similar to the knight who slays the dragon. The forest itself represents the country of the living and appears to be like Dante’s deep dark forest. This mysterious sleep can be understood as being the experience of Samadhi or deep meditation, from where the inner sacred journey begins. In both cases, it is a beloved guide or companion who guides our hero on his path. In the case of Muhammed, the steed is Buraq and the guide is Gabriel. It is interesting that the psychopomp in the form of Buraq, the flying ‘horse’, is present in this story, just as it is in the fairy tales of The Fairy of the Dawn, The Little Hump-backed Horse, and Golden Chisel and the Stone Ram, which are mentioned in my book, The Witch as teacher in Fairy Tales. (2) The psychopomp is a steed and guide of souls, carrying them from one realm to the other; they serve as guides through the various transitions of life. In the fairy tales, the little horse, for instance, is both the steed and guide for the hero, whereas in the story of the Prophet’s journey, Buraq is the steed, while Gabriel is the guide. I find it fascinating that that the little humpbacked horse, in the story of the same name, had long floppy ears like a donkey, and Buraq was said to be part donkey and part mule. The donkey is a symbol of humility and patience, and of course there is a strong connection with Jesus: Christ’s nativity and His entry into Jerusalem. The ‘farthest Masjid’ is thought to be a location, rather than a physical structure. A place of prostration; a place where Muhammad prostrated before God and worshipped Him, in the Blessed Region. I find it interesting that it is described as the ‘farthest place’, while Utnapishtim is taken by the gods to live forever at the ‘mouth of the Page 21 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

rivers’ and given the epithet ‘Faraway’ – a paradise like the garden of Eden called Dilmun. Muhammad stated that “The earth has been made for me (and for my followers) a place for praying.” Many believe that this place of prostration was in Jerusalem, where the al-Aqsa Mosque now stands. But spiritually it is the farthest inner place that one can be in. It is at the very Centre of our universe, where the Divine One or God, is to be encountered. After alighting from Buraq, the prophet performed prayer, and was tested by Gabriel on God’s command. Muhammad said: “Gabriel brought me a vessel of wine, a vessel of water and a vessel of milk, and I chose the milk”. Gabriel said: “You have chosen the Fitrah (natural instinct).” (3) This is a really beautiful symbol! Milk is divine nourishment and is used in initiation ceremonies as a symbol of rebirth. Milk is of the spirit, where water is of matter. Muhammad chose well and properly, so that the second part of the journey could then be undertaken. At the same time also, we are told that Muhammad’s chest was opened and water from the well of Zamzam was poured on his heart giving him wisdom, belief, and other characteristics to help him on his ascent. This purification is also seen in the trial of the drinks. (4) It was the angel Gabriel who, in the time of Abraham, when Hagar was thirsting in the desert with her baby son Ishmael, that Gabriel brought forth water by hitting the ground with his wing. Fresh pure water emerged, and they were saved. This is sacred water of Life which comes from the Well of Zamzam and was used to purify him spiritually before his ascent. The Prophet was raised with the Angel Gabriel beyond time and space. Indeed, Samadhi takes us to an inner realm which is outside of time and space. Here Muhammad toured the ‘seven stages of heaven’ and spoke with the earlier prophets – Adam, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Aaron, John the Baptist, and Jesus. One could say that he became one with the Spirit of Guidance. It is said that his vision of the heavens and of the beauty of those horizons permeated his being. Some accounts say that Muhammad meets four angels, as he travels through the heavens and that he is shown death and what hell looks like. The meeting with four angels is very significant. Four is the Divine Quaternity and for Jung was more powerful as a symbol than the number three. There are four cardinal points, seasons, winds, sides of a square, arms of the cross, rivers of Paradise, and many more. There are four streams of immortality. Muhammad meets angels called cherubim who instil fear in him, but he later sees them as God’s creation, and therefore not harmful. (5) I find this interesting as it carries the same feeling with it, as Petru’s encounter with the Fairy of the Dawn, in the story of the same name. In that story Petru travels through the various realms, overcoming ‘monsters’ and gaining helpful guides, deeper and deeper towards the Centre, where, as he progresses, he must overcome. The Fairy which could be likened to a powerful angel, in her terrible and powerful aspect. The Page 22 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

hero was told not to look at her, and indeed he almost loses himself, when he does look at her. It was only when he played his little flute that she went back to sleep again, thus allowing him to continue his quest. (6) Muhammad was then taken to a holy tree in the seventh heaven that Gabriel was not allowed to pass. (7) In the story of the Fairy of the Dawn, the hero Petru, also must leave his horse and guide at the point in the road where the final realm begins. When we enter the Divine space, we must go alone, without anything at all from any other realm, even the angelic. This a strange and frightening realm. It is here that Muhammad meets with God, who tells him that his people must pray fifty times a day. I was fascinated with this part of the story: – to pray fifty times a day would mean to be in continual prayer – in other words, wherever we are on this earth is a place of prayer and of unity with the Divine. But the number fifty represents a Jubilee, after the completion of the 7x7 cycle. It is in the forty ninth room that Petru finds the Fairy of the Dawn, and the Water of Life. Fifty represents a return to the beginning and the primordial start. There is a strong relationship between the quaternity (four), and the number fifty, as there are fifty lunar months in four years. Fifty is a divine number. Five is the number of man – forming the pentagon. It also represents the marriage between heaven and earth, and so it is that five daily prayers were decided on. By praying five times a day, God will reward humankind tenfold, by raising humankind to heaven. This experience shows us the deep significance of prayer, which through the Eternal Word, enables us to liberate our consciousness from the contingencies of space and time, and fully comprehend the meaning of life. (8) Prayer is one of the five pillars of Islam. There is a so called ‘primitive version’ of the Miraj, by Ibn ‘Abbas, where Muhammed meets four angels as he travels through the heaven showing him fire, ice, hell, and the process of death. But Ibn Abbas describes Muhammad’s encounter with God as a human who touches and speaks to Muhammad as a human would. I find this very touching and illuminating from a spiritual perspective. As we have seen in the story of Golden Chisel, we create for ourselves an ideal of God – an ideal which, when complete, speaks to us and relates to us in a very human and personal way. When the Divine becomes a personality for us, we have achieved the final stage of integration into the One, of Fana fi Allah. At this level we are able to talk with Allah and feel this great Love and Guidance in our lives. It is said that God made man in his own image, and we make our own ideal of God in our own image according to our understanding and beliefs. This is ever changing as we evolve. We are part of the One, and the One is part of us. As we say in our Zikar: La El La Ha, El Allah Hu which means, none exits save God, God alone is. In the story of Gilgamesh, just after he meets Utnapishtim the Faraway, Gilgamesh says ‘I look at you now, Utnapishtim, and your appearance is no different from mine; there is nothing strange in your features. I thought I should find you like a hero prepared for battle, but you lie here taking your ease on your back.---'. (9) Gilgamesh experiences Page 23 Spirit Matters Volume 22 Issue 2 June 2018

Utnapishtim, who was raised to Godhead, as a human being just like himself, and who relates to him as such. This is a very profound understanding of our relationship with the Divine and helps us to understand this relationship. We expect our encounter with the God to be extraordinary, and so when we actually experience it, we can miss this true experience by not recognising it. We are expecting something else. We expect enlightenment to be mind-blowing but it is not. It is something pure and simple – something which can bring us to tears, in the knowing of love and how we too have been guided. Enlightenment can creep up to us without our being aware. It is said that Muhammad was then returned to Jerusalem by the angel Gabriel and Buraq, and from there to Mecca. On the return journey, he came upon some caravans that were also travelling to Mecca. It was still night when they reached the Kaaba enclosure. The angel and Buraq left, and Muhammad proceeded to the home of Um Hani, one of his most trusted Companions, and with whom he had been staying. He gave her an account of what had happened to him, and she advised him not to tell anybody about it, but which Muhammad refused to do, so when Muhammad reported his experience at the Kaaba, he was met with disbelief. They thought that he was mad. But his most faithful followers simply said that if the prophet said that this is what happened, then it must be true. A few weeks later, facts confirmed some elements of his account; the arrival of the caravans whose coming he had announced, having seen them on his way back, and of which he had given a precise description. This demonstrates that the prophet’s night journey and Miraj or ascent, are both a spiritual journey as well as a physical one. There is a state of rising to an inner realm where there is a counterpart of the physical body. This state is called the Alam-e-mithal by Sufis. (10) This can be achieved by intense meditative practice under guidance by a Teacher. This story of the Prophet’s Night Journey and Miraj are the most profound and revealing insight into the inner journey – into the realm of Alam-al-mithal. Accounts of this journey are to be found in so called Fairy Tales, and ancient stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh. In my next blog, we will delve into the near-death experience of C. G. Jung, which can be understood as such a journey. [1] http://www.islamicity.org/5841/the-night-journey/ [2] Daly, Nuria. The Witch as Teacher in Fairy Tales, Balboa Press 2017 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isra_and_Miraj [4] ibid [5] ibid [6] Daly, Nuria The Witch as Teacher in Fairy Tales, Balboa Press. 2017 [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isra_and_Miraj [8] http://www.islamicity.org/5841/the-night-journey/ [9] Sandars, N.K. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Penguin Books 1972 [10] Hazrat Inayat Khan. The Mystical Meaning of the Resurrection

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Review by Carole Voss of The Witch as Teacher in Fairy Tales www.goodreads.com

This beautiful treasure “The Witch as Teacher in Fairy Tales” by Nuria Daly seems sprung from the heart of wisdom herself. Importantly it is a lovely resource for lovers of Baba Yaga, The Frog Princess and The Fairy of the Dawn! The author explores many hidden mysteries embedded in these stories and others that reach into the language of the region of the heart. It’s a responsible and serious fusion of Ancient folk cultures, Esoteric mysticism, Alchemy, Sufism and Jungian psychology with an endearing and uplifting perspective about the Witch Archetype. Importantly there is a prompt in understanding the subtle differences and yet unique spiritual journey for women. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is on the soul’s journey, story tellers who would like the opportunity to gain greater depth into the stories they may tell and anyone who studies about or feels an intimate connection to the mysterious divine feminine.

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